Detecting correlations between data representing information

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method for acquiring at least one interrelation between at least one item of data representing at least one item of information of at least one data inventory and at least one item of data representing at least one item of information of a request for an interrelation (interrelation request) to the at least one item of data representing at least one item of information of at least one data inventory by means of a data processing system. Furthermore, a data processing system with data representing information in at least one data inventory that is accessible via at least one data source as well as a data processing device for electronic data processing comprising a control and/or computing unit, an input unit and an output unit, which are respectively configured and/or adapted for at least partially carrying out a method according to the invention are also contemplated.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of pending Internationalpatent application PCT/EP2008/003786 filed on May 9, 2008, whichdesignates the United States and claims priority from pendingInternational patent application PCT/EP2007/007664 filed on Sep. 3,2007. The content of all prior applications is incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method for acquiring at least oneinterrelation between at least one item of data representing at leastone item of information of at least one data inventory and at least oneitem of data representing at least one item of information of a requestfor an interrelation (interrelation request) to the at least one item ofdata representing at least one item of information of at least one datainventory by means of a data processing system with data representinginformation in at least one data inventory which can be accessed via atleast one data source, wherein the at least one interrelation itselfwill be acquired as an item of data representing at least one item ofinformation in a data inventory and dynamically as a link between atleast one item of data representing at least one item of information ofat least one data inventory and at least one other item of datarepresenting at least one item of information of at least one datainventory and/or at least one electronic use of at least one item ofdata representing at least one item of information of at least one datainventory and will be reproduced by means of an optical and/oracoustical display device of the data processing system, wherein thelink will be established by means of at least one syntactic comparisonand/or by means of one semantic comparison of the at least one item ofdata representing at least one item of information of at least one datainventory with the at least one item of data representing at least oneitem of information of the request for interrelation (interrelationrequest) with/to the at least one item of data representing at least oneitem of information of at least one data inventory.

Furthermore, the present invention relates to a data processing systemwith data representing information in at least one data inventoryaccessible via at least one data source, which system is designed and/oradapted for at least partially carrying out a method according to theinvention.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a dataprocessing device for electronic data processing comprising a controland/or computing unit, an input unit and an output unit, which isconfigured and/or adapted for at least partially carrying out a methodaccording to the invention, preferably using at least a part of a dataprocessing system according to the invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Numerous embodiments of methods, systems and devices for electronic dataprocessing are known from the state of the art, in particular from WO2005/050471 A2, the disclosures of which are hereby explicitlyreferenced.

Methods, data processing systems and/or data processing devices of thekind mentioned in the beginning are used within the scope of searchapplications or routines for instance by operating systems and/or byso-called search engines, as well as within the scope of organisation,provision and/or delivery of information.

Usually contents are machine-processed as data representing informationof a data inventory, in particular in order to be placed at the disposalof users, or to serve users, as technical means for solving tasks. Datainventories in the sense of the invention are simple, universallyusable, persistent data objects containing, like files and/or documentsin operating systems or databases, in particular structural, content,and administrative information, as required.

In data processing systems and/or data processing devices the datainventories are usually accessible to a data processing system and/or adata processing device via at least one data source, usually a datacarrier available within a data processing system or interfaceable orconnectible via a communication network, for instance a hard disc orsimilar data recording means.

Operating systems operate with a hierarchical order of files, forinstance in their so-called file system. Herein, the files are arrangedas a data inventory in directories in a tree structure. Navigation inthe files usually occurs along an Aristotelic logic via the names of theindividual directories down to a file. Herein, the process of navigationcan comprise several steps and furthermore involves the problem of anunambiguous assignment. Moreover, in operating systems, theadministration of files is separated from the administration of datawhich are exclusively accessible via application programs accessingdatabases or file-based data structures, as for instance XML. Normally,the separation occurs in accordance with the technical implementation orrealisation of the persistence of the respective data.

In database-supported applications, relational databases managing staticconnections of tables provided with data have been used hitherto. Due tothe used static connections in the tables managed by search engines,modifications in the data inventories cannot be acquired at all or onlyin a limited manner and with a delay. The evaluation or use of the datamust be determined in a foresighted manner.

Usually, search engines allow users to search data inventories only forkeywords or a Boolean combination of keywords. Precise search requests,as for instance the calling of invoices or the like from a particularperiod of time or similar queries are not possible.

Moreover, data processing systems usually operate with a static—i. e.firmly preset—hierarchically structured menu structure providing theuser with a selection of possible functions for operating the dataprocessing system. In operating systems such as for instance MacOS X ofthe company Apple, so-called pop-up menus are used in addition. Theseare also hierarchically structured menu structures which, depending onthe installed application programs, however, can be supplemented atleast partly by corresponding menu items for starting or callingindividual application programs and/or functionalities of the same.Apart from the supplementability of the menu structures, the latter arenevertheless statically hierarchically structured in their use. Thepreviously existing static hierarchical structuring of menu structuresin data processing systems can consequently not, or only to a limitedextent, fulfil a user's preferences of use. Taking the respectivecontext of use into account by means of the menu structures, wherein inparticular those menu items are offered in a menu which make sense orare reasonable in the context of the situation or of the calledcontents, is not possible, in particular not due to the statichierarchical structure of the menus.

Synchronisation of data representing information in data inventoriesbetween different data processing devices jointly using the datainventories—in particular in view of the increasing dissemination ofdata processing devices for mobile use such as so-called PDAs (PDA:Personal Digital Assistant)—is an important part of data processingsystems and is integrated into data processing systems for instance inthe form of so-called PIM systems (PIM: Personal InformationManagement). The functionality of synchronisation, however, haspreviously been restricted to a purely manual selection of informationto be synchronised. For instance, a user can only select by manual inputwhich, or which part of, the contact addresses managed by the dataprocessing system he wants to synchronise. A closer or more detailedspecification with regard to a limitation of content of the informationto be synchronised is not possible, in particular not as an automatedprocess which independently adjusts to the user's requirements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of this state of the art, it is the object of the presentinvention to improve the acquisition of interrelations between datarepresenting information avoiding the described disadvantages, inparticular with regard to method, scope and handling of the acquisitionof interrelations as well as the use of the acquired interrelations, inparticular in consideration of the respective user-individual uses ofthe interrelations.

For the technical solution the present invention proposes a method foracquiring at least one interrelation between at least one item of datarepresenting at least one item of information of at least one datainventory and at least one item of data representing at least one itemof information of a request for an interrelation (interrelation request)to the at least one item of data representing at least one item ofinformation of at least one data inventory by means of a data processingsystem with data representing information in at least one data inventorywhich can be accessed via at least one data source, wherein the at leastone interrelation itself will be acquired as an item of datarepresenting at least one item of information in a data inventory anddynamically as a link between at least one item of data representing atleast one item of information of at least one data inventory and atleast one other item of data representing at least one item ofinformation of at least one data inventory and/or at least oneelectronic use of at least one item of data representing at least oneitem of information of at least one data inventory and will bereproduced by means of an optical and/or acoustical display device ofthe data processing system, wherein the link will be established bymeans of at least one syntactic comparison and/or by means of onesemantic comparison of the at least one item of data representing atleast one item of information of at least one data inventory with the atleast one item of data representing at least one item of information ofthe request for interrelation (interrelation request) with/to the atleast one item of data representing at least one item of information ofat least one data inventory, wherein within the scope of a request foran interrelation (interrelation request) between the data representingat least one item of information of a request for an interrelation(interrelation request) a set of statements in the sense ofsubject-predicate-object relations is automatically generated, such thatrequests for an interrelation (interrelation requests) can be realisedin natural language. According to the invention, an interrelationrequest with an implicit ontology (ontological interrelation request)can be realised herein.

The solution according to the invention advantageously enables to submitdata representing information—in the following also referred to asinformation objects and/or concepts—of the available data inventories,preferably any structured and/or non structured data from datainventories that are accessible via data sources, to an automaticsemantic analysis. Herein, a graph is formed as result, which graphconsists of multiple links of the information objects. Nodes and edgesof this graph can be interpreted as statements in the form ofsubject-predicate-object. These statements can advantageously besubmitted to complex questions and can advantageously deliver concreteanswers in form of information objects. Herein, the method according tothe invention advantageously requires no manual implementation ofstatements or ontologies in semantic languages, such as for instance RDFor OWL. The information objects (concepts) are advantageously obtainedfrom both non structured and structured data. Herein, a frameworkadvantageously converts information into a generic object model withoutinformation having to be migrated into a central database.

In this manner, the method according to the invention advantageouslyoffers an alternative for creating data resources on the base of RDF orOWL. Both describing languages have great advantages, because veryprecise statements can be formulated by means of them, which statementscan be evaluated by a system for instance by means of the query languageSPARQL. The challenge in particular for the so called semantic webhowever is that many internet pages and/or services first have to beenriched with the semantic data which are implemented with the abovementioned languages. For many operators of large or small internet pagesthis requires a conversion or enhancement of their content system ortheir service. Additionally, authors first have to create the semanticenhancement of the offered information. Small semantic enhancements inform of tags are presently already part of the habits of authors of theso called web 2.0, but statements have to be created via specialauthoring software, for example by an ontology editor.

In contrast to this, the solution according to the invention permits toextract items of content from a structured or non structured data basein such a way that a set of statements is created, which statements canbe queried and from which conclusions can be drawn in an automatedmanner. Thus, the solution according to the invention is suitable toincrease the acceptance of semantic technologies and advantageouslyexhaust the data base existent in the internet. Thereby, the internetbecomes a great database according to the invention, which database canbe queried in the sense of the vision of the semantic web.

According to the invention, statements are advantageously queried on thebase of created sets of statements in the sense ofsubject-predicate-object relations. Herein, within the scope of thequery the set of statements in the sense of subject-predicate-objectrelations will be advantageously divided into single statements in theform of subject-predicate-object, wherein an item of data representingat least one item of information (information object) represents thesubject which is linked via a predicate to another item of datarepresenting at least one item of information (information object) whichrepresents the object of the statement, and wherein the predicate is thereason for the link. Another embodiment of the invention provides thatwithin the scope of the query, the subject and the object of at leastone statement of the set of statements in the sense ofsubject-predicate-object relations are retrieved by means of acombination of a request to the index of the database and a request tothe database containing links as results of the interrelation requestsand are then afterwards filtered over the links representing thepredicate as results of the interrelation requests. According to anotherproposal of the invention, a query is brought into a form which dividesthe entire query into partial queries, on the base of the partialqueries a query of associated statements of the sets of statements inthe sense of subject-predicate-object relations is realised and theresults of these partial queries are used for the selection ofassociated statements of the set of statements in the sense ofsubject-predicate-object relations. The statements of the set ofstatements in the sense of subject-predicate-object relations in partialstatements are advantageously divided, selected in the database andafterwards combined/linked. In the case where two or more partialstatements are connected to one object, either a cut-set isadvantageously formed, preferably by an AND-function between thesubjects of the partial statements, or a join of sets is formed,preferably by a logical addition of the subjects of the partialstatements, and the quantity/set of results representing the subjects ofthe link will then be used for the next step of request.

Another advantageous embodiment of the invention provides a selection ofstatements of the set of statements in the sense ofsubject-predicate-object relations comprising the following processsteps:

-   -   1. Division of a statement of the set of statements in the sense        of subject-predicate-object relations into subject, predicate        and object;    -   2. Request to the index of the database with the subject of the        divided statement (description of the subject) which delivers a        set of results for the subject (subject set) as result;    -   3. Request to the index of the database with the object of the        divided statement (description of the object) which delivers a        set of results for the object (object set) as result;    -   4. Selection of the database containing links as results of the        interrelation requests, in which links a subject from the        subject set and an object from the object set are connected to        each other via a definite or indefinite predicate.

As result, the selection according to the invention then deliversselected statements.

The automatic analysis of data enabled by the method according to theinvention advantageously comprises different aspects, the details,characteristics and advantages of which will be explained in detail inthe following:

1. Data Integration Instead of Migration

The method according to the invention for the automatic semanticanalysis and evaluation of data representing information at firstpresumes that this information is obtained from various sources. Forthis, a special framework, in the present invention the so calledUniform Information Layer is advantageously used. Thanks to thisframework, in the present invention data from any source are translatedinto a generic object which can be processed by the total system (dataprocessing system). Herein, the data are not migrated into a database,but only indexed and analysed.

In the present invention, a database advantageously only retains therespective finding place of the item of information with an unequivocalURI. This URI can be for instance a URL in the case of an internet pageor an ID within a database. In the translation according to theinvention by the framework, information objects are created whichcomprise, apart from meta-information that is required by the system, anarbitrary number of attributes. The attributes can be in turn dividedinto types, names and value. Thanks to the meta-information the systeminter alia knows which type a content has, for instance a profile of aperson, a Word document or a product description. There is no redundantmemorization of data, but only a slim index and a database containingthe graph of the information objects. This graph is advantageouslyobtained by the methods described in the following with respect to item2.

2. Triple Semantic Analysis of the Information Objects andMulti-Relations

The analyzing process is controlled by a protocol which contains eachmodification of the data inventory but also all interactions of the userand the system. As soon as there is an entry in this protocol, it willbe processed. Herein, the analyses or relations described in thefollowing are advantageously used:

2.1 Syntactic Analysis

The syntactic analysis leads to a link of information objects on thebase of key attributes. Key attributes are of special importance for aninterrelation or a structuring of a data inventory. For instance, in thecase of an e-mail this can be the sender and the addressee, in adocument this can be for instance the author and the title and for aproduct this can be for instance the order number.

If the solution according to the invention is used, for instance thecomplete correspondence is automatically allocated to a person or alldocuments are allocated to a project, which refer to it.

The key attributes are advantageously determined in plug-ins to theframework, the Uniform Information Layer. A plug-in has the function tointegrate a certain data type and to translate the contained informationinto a generic information object that can be processed by the system. Adata type can be for instance Microsoft Word, Profile from a Communityor e-mails from an IMAP server.

2.2 Pattern Analysis

In the pattern analysis according to the invention, information objectsare advantageously checked with respect to similarity and connected toeach other with a similarity value. Identical information objects get asimilarity value which is hardly beneath 1.0. The link value 1.0 isreserved for manual links which are also provided by the system. Iftotally different information objects are concerned, this link will getthe value 0.0. However, this value is only theoretical, because if thereis no similarity between two information objects, no link will becreated. Thus, the similarity value which can be interpreted as aweighting of the link is in practice comprised between 0.0 and 1.0.

For retrieving the similar information objects, at first the terms areadvantageously extracted from an information object and arrangedaccording to reverse frequency. The terms with the lowest frequency havethe highest significance for the information object. Frequently usedwords are usually general terms and do not contribute to the meaning ofan information object. A data request is created from a quantity of themost significant words, which data request retrieves the similarinformation objects of the available data pool. For this, the indexconcerning all information objects is advantageously used.

2.3 Semantic Analysis

The semantic analysis realised according to the invention is based uponthe knowledge from the language philosophy that the meaning of languageis not theoretically created, but determined by using it. Meanings canchange by the dialogue. Language is living. By analogy, the meaning ofinformation objects is created by using them. It changes with the timeand changes the context of its use or the relevance until itsinsignificance in an out-dated document.

For this reason, the solution according to the invention advantageouslyprotocols all events. This starts with the creation, the change andcomes to an end with the deletion of an information object. But also thepure calling of an information object for reading will be advantageouslylogged. Thereby, the solution according to the invention deduces whethertwo information objects have been called or processed in a connection.If a sequence of information objects is repeated in the protocol, thesolution according to the invention presumes that there is aninterrelation of meaning. This interrelation will be strengthened witheach return of the pattern. This can go so far that thereby other linksrecede into the background and become unimportant. An algorithmadvantageously calculates the weighting of the links to an object newlyin all cases. Thus, a dynamic relation network of information objects iscreated which adapts to the real use of a user community or anindividual user. The latter advantageously realises a personalisation ofa semantic network.

2.4 Multi-Relations

It happens that two information objects are linked to each other due totwo or even all above mentioned methods (cf. Item 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3). Themanual link is advantageously provided as fourth option. It can evenhappen that there are several reasons why two information objects arelinked to each other via the syntactic analysis, for instance via thename and the company of a contact data record. Therefore, there is notonly one link between two information objects, but advantageously nlinks. The weighting of the link which is advantageously displayed asonly one is calculated from an average value of the individualweightings. Optionally, it can be advantageously shown to the user ofthe solution according to the invention why a link has been created.Thereby, the semantic network according to the invention can beadvantageously always duplicated.

3. Evaluation of the Semantic Relations

The semantic relations are advantageously evaluated by queryingstatements on the base of sets of statements according to the inventionin the sense of subject-predicate-object relations. Herein, differentevaluations are enabled:

3.1 Implicit Statements

The graph which is the result of the three semantic analyzing processes(cf. Item 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3) is advantageously divided into singlestatements in the form of subject-predicate-object. An informationobject represents the subject which is connected via a predicate toanother information object, the object of the statement. The predicateis the reason for the link. This can be the name of the key attributewhich was the cause for the link, for instance the author of a document.From this, a concrete statement results, for example in the form of “Theperson Max Mustermann is the author of the document Musterdokument.doc.”Apart from the name of the key attribute, also the other analyzingprocesses (cf. Item 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3) can deliver a pattern for apredicate. In the case of the pattern analysis it would beadvantageously the similarity as predicate. Thus, a statement iscreated, for example in the form of “The document Example1.doc issimilar to the document Example2.doc”. The semantic analysis leads tostatements for example in the form of “The product X is interrelated tothe product Y with respect to action.” This can for instance be of greatimportance in the application case of an online shop, in order todisplay products which are in high probability also of interest for acustomer, if this one is looking at a certain product in the shop. Notto forget is the manual link (cf. Item 2.4), by means of which anystatements can be formulated. Herein, advantageously entire knowledgefields and subject fields can be created, wherein the conceptsadvantageously represent own information objects, preferably categories,definitions, subject fields and/or the like. The Uniform InformationLayer according to the invention permits to include any data, such thatany objects from databases, documents or also web formats such as microformats or information objects that refer to RDF can be used asinformation objects. The latter ones are for example persons who aredescribed with the so called specification of friend of a friend (FOAF).The graphs that are automatically created by the solution according tothe invention advantageously permit to obtain plenty of implicitstatements which can be queried.

3.2 Simple Questions

Simple questions are questions which have a simple structure which canbe reduced to a statement in the form of subject-predicate-object. Forinstance: “Which person is the author of a text dealing withenvironmental protection?”, “How is the person x related to the persony?”, Which problem solutions exist for the product x?” or “Whichcorrespondence has been carried on with the person x?”. These questionsare interpreted as statements according to the invention and are dividedinto subject, predicate and object. For subject and object,interrelation requests (search requests) are advantageously addressed tothe index, the results of which are filtered over the predicate. In thefirst example, the index would be queried with respect to informationobjects of the type “person” as well as to information objects which areof the type “document” and contain the keyword “environmentalprotection”. Both selections can be formulated as interrelation requestto the index. Afterwards, the predicate comes into play: In thementioned example, it is delimited by the term “author”. The databaseaccording to the invention of the relations between the informationobjects is therefore advantageously queried with a SQL statement, inorder to obtain the statements in which results of the search requestfor the subject are linked to results of the search request for theobject. Additionally, the link will be designated with the key attribute“author”. Thanks to the set of statements which is delivered as result,the persons for who it was asked can be displayed.

According to the invention, simple questions are advantageouslyformalised as follows: subject (search request), predicate (reason ofthe link), object (search request). It is possible that some variablesin this query remain free of statements. Thus, the solution according tothe invention can advantageously search for any links or can also leavesubject and object open, in that it is only searched for special links,for instance all objects which are connected by “friendship”.

3.3 Complex Questions

In the sense of the present invention, complex questions are understoodas such in which the question is restricted by relative clauses.Examples for this are:

-   -   1. “Which person is the author of documents dealing with the        subject of environmental protection and is at the same time        employee of the company x?”;    -   2. “Which documents with respect to the subject environmental        protection have been written by persons who are employees of the        company x?”

The questions can be advantageously brought into a form which dividesthe entire complex question into partial statements. In accordance tothe above mentioned formalisation, the form of the two above mentionedexemplary questions is as follows, wherein respectively the firstsubject is the wanted set of objects, with S=search request for thesubject, P=description of the predicate and O=search request for theobject:

-   -   1. S( . . . ) [P( . . . ) O( . . . ) and P( . . . ) O( . . . )]    -   2. S( . . . ) P( . . . ) [S( . . . ) P( . . . ) O( . . . )]

The first formalisation expresses that the subject is delimited by twostatements: On the one hand, the subject is connected to certaindocuments by the predicate “author”. On the other hand, the subject isalso connected to an object which describes a certain company by apredicate “employee”.

The second formalisation expresses that the subject connects a certainquantity of documents via the predicate “author” to persons. The latterones are delimited by the statement that only such persons areconsidered who are linked via the predicate “employee” to an informationobject which describes a certain company. This division of questionsinto partial statements can be advantageously generalised: For eachcomplex question, a wanted set of subjects can be constrained by severalpredicate-object relations, which are linked by “and” or “or”. Theobjects can also be constrained by several predicate-object relations,which are logically linked by “and” or “or”. Herein, a graph for thedivision of a complex question is created (cf. also FIG. 23). For thesubject and the object there is respectively any number of branches,whereas a predicate is always allocated to only one object.

If the question is asked in the described form, the system can work onit. Herein, the statements are advantageously divided into partialstatements, selected in the database and afterwards linked. The solutionaccording to the invention advantageously starts at the ends of thegraph and continues the work after selection of the partial statements.If two or more partial statements are connected to an object, either acut-set (And-function) or a join of sets (logical addition) has to becreated. The set of results will then be used for the next step withinthe graph. As a result, there is a quantity of subjects which is placedat the beginning of the graph. In this manner, complex questions can beanswered according to the invention, which are based upon statementswhich have been implicitly created by the automatic semantic link orhave been directly modelled in the system. If one wants to obtain acompatibility of the Semantic Web with respect to the generally usedmethods, there are advantageously two ways to go according to theinvention: information objects on the base of RDF, for instancedescriptions of persons with FOAF, can be integrated into the system viathe Uniform Information Layer. The statements which are then formed bythe system can afterwards theoretically be re-exported as RDF graph. Apreferred, because much easier variant to query the system according tothe invention is given by a web service via which requests can beformulated. Results can then be represented in each user interface. Theentire system can thus be advantageously integrated into company portalsor special applications.

Another advantageous embodiment of the invention provides that withinthe scope of a request for an interrelation (interrelation request) onlysuch data representing information will be used for the request for aninterrelation (interrelation request) which comprise at least oneinterrelation to at least one pre-definable item of information.

According to the invention, a context search is realised in this manner,wherein only such items of content will be considered within the scopeof the request for an interrelation (interrelation request) which arefound in the context of a certain item of content. In this manner, thecontext search according to the invention permits to find results ofinterrelation requests in dependence on the context. A search will bethus substantially refined in dependence on the context.

An especially preferred embodiment of the invention provides that theinterrelation request is realised as a request addressed to a searchengine. Herein, a search engine in the sense of the invention is inparticular a program for researching documents and/or data records—whichare, in the sense of the present invention, one item of datarepresenting at least one item of information of a data inventory—whichare provided or held ready by means of a computing device—also calledcomputer—or in or via a computer network, in particular the internet oran intranet. In the scope of a use of the method according to theinvention with respect to the interrelation request for or with a searchengine a keyword index will be advantageously created for the documentbasis—which is, in the sense of the present invention, a result of asearch request or an interrelation request—in order to respond to searchrequests via keywords—which are, in the sense of the present invention,one item of data representing at least one item of information of theinterrelation request—by means of a hit list arranged according torelevance. After input of one or more search terms—which are, in thesense of the present invention, an item of data representing an item ofinformation of the interrelation request—a list of links to possiblyrelevant documents or data records—which are, in the sense of thepresent invention, an item of data representing at least one item ofinformation of a data inventory—will be delivered.

The requests for an interrelation between the contents of datarepresenting information, interrelation requests in the sense of thepresent invention, are advantageously themselves data representinginformation and/or actions. Accordingly and according to the invention,in general interrelations between two successive contents will beadvantageously acquired as data representing information of one or twodata inventories and their contexts with respect to each other will beconsidered according to the invention.

The invention is based upon the knowledge that thanks to theconsideration or integration of the context of or between items ofcontent, interrelation requests can be further improved and optimized,in particular with respect to the usability of an acquisition ofinterrelations according to the invention for users. According to theinvention, a self-learning solution is realised. Altogether, theacquisition of interrelations between data representing information hasbeen improved thereby, in particular with respect to the manner, scopeas well as handling of the acquisition of interrelations as well as tothe use of the acquired interrelations. Herein, interrelations can bemanaged as knowledge according to the invention.

Herein, the method according to the invention puts the knowledge intopractice that knowledge is created by connecting contents. In contrastto a use of term networks which are encoded in a so called Topic Mapaccording to ISO/IEC 13250 and are for instance created by consultingenterprises with respect to areas of business or by verticalisedknowledge management solutions of software manufacturers, the inventionprovides a self-learning solution which adapts itself to therequirements and preferences of the respective consumer or user.Accordingly, the functionalities of the method according to theinvention can be simply integrated without any problems into existingsolutions, in particular data processing systems and/or data processingdevices. Costly and training intensive introductions of a solutionaccording to the invention into existing or new projects can be dropped.

The solution according to the invention enables a user to get easily andquickly from one item of content to other contents linked viainterrelations. Since advantageously, all contents are repeatedlyconnectable via interrelations, in particular in groupings according tothe invention, a navigation within the scope of an interrelation requestcan advantageously also lead back to the starting point of the request,i. e. to the interrelation request itself. In this manner, the user canadvantageously recognise contexts, in particular with or between uses,which are relevant for instance for his current focus of interest. In afixed, static hierarchical order of data processing systems, as itexists for instance in operating systems and their application programsusually using tree structures to select contents, this is not possible,since these do not allow a consideration of new order structures.

While otherwise, users of data processing systems enter data via inputmasks provided by the data processing system, the solution according tothe invention advantageously makes it possible to describe data inaccordance with a current requirement of the user. So for instance, thesolution according to the invention does not rigidly determine thedescription of an address or a project, as it is otherwise usual, butdue to the dynamic data management according to the invention and thedesign of a corresponding graphic user interface, it enables the user touse it in an extremely flexible and individual manner.

Advantageously, the pre-definable item of information is used togetherwith an acquired interrelation as an item of data representing an itemof information of a request for an interrelation (interrelationrequest). Within the scope of an interrelation request, a user can thussimply input the pre-definable item of information together with an itemof content of a result of an interrelation request that has been alreadyacquired before and hand it over to the process carrying out the method.

In an especially preferred embodiment of the invention it is providedthat within the scope of a request for an interrelation (interrelationrequest), at first a request for an interrelation (interrelationrequest) to the at least one pre-definable item of information as the atleast one item of data representing at least one item of information ofa request for an interrelation (interrelation request) is realised, thena request for an interrelation (interrelation request) to the at leastone result of the request for an interrelation (interrelation request)to the at least one pre-definable item of information as the at leastone item of data representing at least one item of information of arequest for an interrelation (interrelation request) is realised andfinally the at least one result of the request for an interrelation(interrelation request) to the at least one result of the request for aninterrelation (interrelation request) to the at least one pre-definableitem of information as the at least one item of data representing atleast one item of information of a request for an interrelation(interrelation request) is acquired and reproduced as the at least oneitem of data representing at least one item of information of a requestfor an interrelation (interrelation request).

Another advantageous embodiment of the invention is characterized inthat the pre-definable item of information is a sequence of letters andspecial characters (search string) that can be selected by a user and/oran application.

In another advantageous embodiment of the invention it is provided thatat least one word of a list made on the base of a full text (list ofwords) and comprising words contained in the full text will be used asthe at least one item of data representing at least one item ofinformation of the request for an interrelation (interrelation request).

An advantageous embodiment of the invention provides that the words onthe list (list of words) of the words contained in the full text will bearranged in an ascending manner in accordance with the frequency oftheir presence in the full text and the arranged words will be used inconsideration of the frequency of their presence in the full text as theat least one item of data representing at least one item of informationof the request for interrelation (interrelation request).

In another advantageous embodiment of the invention it is provided thata pre-definable number of the words arranged on a list (arranged list ofwords) in accordance with the frequency of their presence in the fulltext will be acquired and the words of the list (arranged list of words)will be used as the at least one item of data representing at least oneitem of information of the request for an interrelation (interrelationrequest). Advantageously, the list (arranged list of words) contains thewords with the lowest frequency of their presence in the full text. Inanother embodiment of the invention the words are advantageouslyarranged in an ascending manner in accordance with the frequency oftheir presence in the full text. The pre-definable number is preferablylimited to up to 32, in particular since thanks to the pre-definablenumber the number of attributes which are usable for an interrelationrequest and can be preferably logically connected to each other can bedefined and furthermore—as it has been found empirically—the performanceof the solution according to the invention in use by data processingsystems can thus be optimised.

According to another proposal of the invention the words of the list areat least partially, preferably completely—i.e. the entire list ofwords—used in parallel as the at least one item of data representing atleast one item of information of the request for an interrelation(interrelation request). Herein, the words of the arranged list of wordsare advantageously connected to each other in a logical manner,preferably by means of a Boolean logical addition, and the logicaladdition will be used as the at least one item of data representing atleast one item of information of the request for an interrelation(interrelation request). As result the interrelation request thendelivers a similarity value, preferably via a search engine. Thesimilarity value is advantageously a percentage number with respect tothe similarity, wherein for a similarity value of 100% all the wordsfrom the arranged list of words that have been used as attributes forthe request in the requested context, especially preferred between twofull texts or full text documents, occur and/or are relevant and for asimilarity value of 0% none of the words from the arranged list of wordsthat have been used as attributes for the request in the requestedcontext, especially preferred between two full texts or full textdocuments, occurs and/or is similar or is relevant with respect to thesimilarity.

An alternative and/or supplementing embodiment of the inventionadvantageously provides that the words of the list will be used oneafter the other as the at least one item of data representing at leastone item of information of the request for an interrelation(interrelation request).

Advantageously, the connections are acquired like, and preferably with,the dynamically acquired interrelations. In contrast to relationaldatabases where connections of tables provided with data are managed,the solution according to the invention creates links of the acquiredinterrelations dynamically, preferably in n-to-n relations, wherein theinterrelations are advantageously obtained and maintained, i. e. inparticular kept up to date, independently according to the method.

According to the invention advantageously all data inventories existingin and/or connected with or integratable into the system are indexed.From the user's point of view, a dissolution of the otherwise existingseparation between database and file system, as for instance in searchengines, will thus be achieved. The solution according to the inventionthereby enables a search of contents independent of the technicalrealisation of the persistence of data. Herein a quasi-combination ofindices and databases is created according to the invention enablingdifferent search options by interrelations, in particular an integrationof precise search queries and full-text searches. Search queries areanalysed and converted for an internal query of the data sources.

The solution according to the invention advantageously permits anintegration of data sources without having to replicate data or to useresources for redundancies. For this, a data processing system accordingto the invention advantageously comprises a structure which makes itpossible to integrate data sources without having to replicate data orto use resources for redundancies (plug-in structure of the dataprocessing system). The involvement of data sources for data migrationotherwise requiring a high development effort and large system resourcescan therefore be advantageously omitted.

In accordance with another proposal of the invention, the solutionaccording to the invention also takes local data inventories intoaccount which can for instance be shared by different users for use in acomputer network, e. g. various employees in a company network, inparticular. a client-server network. Contents and their interrelationscan thereby be used in a company network for instance for marketresearch and/or competition analyses or similar applications.

In another advantageous embodiment of the invention, the connection iscreated by a syntactic comparison between the at least one item of datarepresenting at least one item of information of the request for aninterrelation (interrelation request) and the at least one datainventory. The particularity of the art according to the invention is asyntactic comparison on the basis of rules (keys) that can berespectively described in insertable modules, so-called plug-ins. Thishas two crucial advantages: On the one hand, valid interrelationsspecified by the user (e. g. business rules) can be defined and appliedto the data inventory. At the same time, this allows for a flexible datastructure. On the other hand, interrelations between items ofinformation and options for action (dynamic functions) can be created bythe rules. According to the invention, a solution is used here, in whichinformation about actions on the part of a user or automatic processesis provided to all system components (plug-ins) managing data sources inorder for them to trigger actions or changes to the data inventorythemselves, if required. The syntactic analysis is advantageouslyapplied in combination with other analyses in order to realise quickresults and an immediately usable overall system.

Another advantageous embodiment of the invention provides that theconnection is created by a semantic comparison between the at least oneitem of data representing at least one item of information of therequest for an interrelation (interrelation request) and the at leastone data inventory. Within the scope of the semantic comparison, asemantic network is herein advantageously created from whichinterrelations can be acquired.

In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, the variouspossibilities for the creation of connections are applied incombination. Unlike neural networks, the solution according to theinvention works with a combination of syntactic and/or semantic analyticprocesses in order to achieve a high learning speed.

According to an advantageous proposal of the invention the connection iscreated by manual input, preferably by a select input.

In another particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, othercomparisons for the acquisition of connections can be integrated intothe data processing system according to the invention. In this manner,the user can for instance integrate other analytic procedures and/ormethods in addition to the mentioned possibilities for acquisition ofconnections and accordingly expand the data processing system by theseaccording to the user's individual requirements.

Another advantageous proposal of the invention is characterised by atleast one electronic use of an item of data representing at least oneitem of information of at least one data inventory as an item of datarepresenting at least one item of information of the request for aninterrelation (interrelation request). A particularly advantageousembodiment of the invention is characterised by an acquisition ofelectronic uses of data representing at least one item of information ofat least one data inventory in accordance with time and/or frequency anduse of this acquisition as the at least one item of data representing atleast one item of information of the request for an interrelation(interrelation request). Another advantageous embodiment of theinvention is characterised by at least one acquisition of aninterrelation as electronic use of an item of data representing at leastone item of information of a data inventory. Another embodiment of theinvention is characterised by the use of at least one reference to adata inventory comprising data representing at least one item ofinformation. By these measures, for instance the use of a file with anapplication program, advantageously either individually or incombination, can be acquired as an interrelation. Scope and handling ofthe solution according to the invention can thus be further improved,and user applications can be further individualised. For the analysis,advantageously actions, time and sequence of the user and results ofdata modifications are logged according to the invention. The datamodifications are advantageously verified by a so-called crawler.

The acquisition of interrelations advantageously occurs in a weightedmanner. In this manner, the dynamics of acquisition of interrelationscan be advantageously further increased or reduced. In a preferredembodiment of the invention, the weighting of interrelations of at leastone interrelation already acquired as an item of data representing atleast one item of information in a data inventory is modified independence on the weighting of interrelations of a subsequently acquiredinterrelation; preferably the weighting of interrelations is increased(incremented) or reduced (decremented). In a particularly preferredembodiment of the invention, the weighting is not only realised inaccordance with a percentage hit accuracy of a search query, but on thebasis of the semantic network formed by dynamic acquisition by thesolution of the invention, which network is automatically andcontinuously optimised by numerous parameters, in particular bycontinuous updating of the acquired interrelations. Details of thisiterative process comprising several bifurcations result in connectionwith the following description of the flow charts shown in the figuresof the exemplary embodiments, in particular from FIG. 14.

Advantageously, at least one acquired interrelation is reproduced,preferably by an optical and/or acoustical display device of the dataprocessing system according to the invention or of a data processingdevice according to the invention, respectively. In accordance withanother advantageous proposal of the invention, the weighting of theacquired interrelation is reproduced together with it.

In another embodiment of the invention, weightings are provided with anexpiry period in order to down-grade interrelations in dependence ontime. Since each user will use the solution according to the inventionwith different intensity, it is appropriate to use a meter for theexpiry period which uses an action as the smallest unit of time. In thiscase, an action is the calling of an item of content, preferablyincluding processing of the same, and/or the creation of a new item ofcontent from the data processing system. In another embodiment of theinvention, the period within which a user has used an item of content,for instance viewed one, is used for determining the expiry period. Theexpiry period of a weighting of an interrelation is advantageouslyextended the longer and/or the more often the user has occupied himselfwith an item of content, since its significance for the user is or mustbe correspondingly higher.

Moreover, the present invention relates to a data processing system withdata representing information in at least one data inventory that isaccessible via a data source and that is configured and/or adapted forat least partially carrying out a method according to the invention.

Another advantageous embodiment of the invention is characterised by agraphic user interface for entering and/or reproduction of interrelationrequests, connections, interrelations and/or weightings ofinterrelations. The graphic user interface is advantageously furthermoredesigned and/or adapted for entering, modifying and/or reproducing datarepresenting information in at least one data inventory. The userinterface advantageously provides a graphic user interface which enablesaction-oriented navigation. This means that in place of possiblefunctions in hierarchically structured menu structures otherwise offeredfor selection to the user, options for action are offered to the userwithin the scope of the invention which are reasonable and make sense inthe context of the situation or contents called, respectively. Inaccordance with a particularly preferred proposal of the invention,action-oriented navigation uses a binary basic structure which enablesinput of contents on the one hand and output of contents, on the otherhand. This action-oriented, binary navigation is advantageously realisedwith cross-device validity, i. e. independently of the respective dataprocessing device.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the graphicuser interface partitions the optical display area available forreproduction by means of a display device into three areas, wherein theresult of a selection of data representing information is reproduced ina first area, an item of information selected from the selection in thefirst area is reproduced in a second area with a display, and the atleast one interrelation is reproduced in the third area. The item ofinformation in the second area selected from the selection in the firstarea is preferably reproduced as a preview or as full display of theitem of information. The display area can also be provided in the formof a window by the display device. Another proposal of the invention ischaracterised by a horizontal or vertical layout. The size of the areascan be advantageously set or adjusted.

In another advantageous embodiment of the invention, reproduction occursat least partly in selectable form, i. e. the reproduced interrelationsthemselves are for instance designed as menu items for options foraction and/or as connections in the form of a link and can be used byselection, for instance by so-called “clicking-on”.

Contents or documents comprising contents are advantageously reproducedwithin the scope of a preview by the data processing system. In thismanner, the possibilities of orientation for the user in theinterrelations and contents are further improved. During navigation orcontrolling, the preview is advantageously reproducible by datainventories, such that the user can gain a quick overview ofinterrelations. This preview advantageously contains a summary of thecontent, for instance an Internet page reduced with regard to theelements or components shown, or a summarised text. Thereby, otherwiseexisting restrictions, which are present for instance in operatingsystems giving a preview of documents in the form of small pictures(so-called thumbnails), in the form of beginnings of texts, or in theform of program or document symbols (so-called icons), can be eliminatedin accordance with the invention.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the dataprocessing system according to the invention is used for dynamicorganisation of information and/or processes, preferably within thescope of a software running on a computer.

The data processing system according to the invention is advantageouslypart of a database application, or at least usable together with adatabase application.

Furthermore, the subject of the invention relates to a data processingdevice for electronic data processing comprising a control and/orcomputing unit, an input unit and an output unit which is configuredand/or adapted for at least partially carrying out a method according tothe invention, preferably using at least a part of a data processingsystem according to the invention.

In another advantageous embodiment of the invention, a data processingdevice for electronic data processing comprising a control and/orcomputing unit, an input unit and an output unit is provided,characterised by a use of a data processing system according to theinvention.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the data processingdevice is designed as a mobile terminal, preferably as a mobile terminalwhich can be used and operated in mobile networks. Particularlypreferred is an embodiment of the data processing device as a mobiletelephone.

The data processing system according to the invention is advantageouslyconfigured in such a way that it can be run under a Java VM, so that thedata processing system can principally be used on all mobile terminals.In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the dataprocessing device supports the special ergonomics of the data processingsystem.

A preferred embodiment of the solution according to the inventionadvantageously comprises and realises the following procedures, systemsand/or devices for acquisition of interrelations between datarepresenting information:

Based on findings of linguistics, epistemology and neurology,interrelations between contents (data representing information) areacquired, wherein the interrelations are acquired dynamically asmodifiable, advantageously increasable or reducible n-to-n connections(n: natural, whole number) in accordance with neuronal patterns orassociations in the human brain, respectively.

Just like the human brain condenses and processes stimuli of its sensoryorgans as mental presentations to mental representations—for instance,the human brain derives a movable object from synchronically activatedstimuli by means of the visual system of perception—interrelationsbetween contents (data representing information) are acquired in thesolution according to the invention. In iterative processes, informationor contents, respectively, can be condensed to knowledge on the basis ofthe correspondingly acquired dynamic interrelations. Furthermore,according to the invention, the interrelations acquired in this way canthemselves be used as new content in the form of data representinginformation, for instance as options for action which are offered to theuser to select from, or enter into process controls or the like withinthe scope of automated processes. Herein, the solution according to theinvention is advantageously pragmatic and self-organising, so thatconfigurations by the user are not required. At the same time, thesolution according to the invention still allows open controls by theuser.

Within the scope of the acquisition of interrelations, different methodsfor producing, modifying and dissolving dynamic n-to-n connections areadvantageously applied in combination with each other, in particularconnections by manual inputs, connections by syntactic comparisonsand/or connections by semantic comparisons. Furthermore,mathematical-statistical analytical procedures can be used to acquireinterrelations. The interrelations acquired by connections areadvantageously provided with a weighting. Herein, this weighting isadvantageously realised with values, preferably values between 0 and 1,corresponding to no interrelation (value 0) or an immediateinterrelation (value 1).

Connections of interrelations by manual inputs of the user can beprovided with the greatest possible weighting value, in the presentinvention 1, i. e. the weighting of the connection will get the highestand fixed value. Herein, in particular the ergonomics of action-orientedlogic described in more detail in the following is used. Alternatively,a smaller value may be set in order to let the connection enter into thesemantic network.

With connections of interrelations by syntactic comparisons and/orrules, the contents (data representing information) of files and/ordatabases or defined parts of contents are searched as a data inventoryfor matching words, word components or character strings whichcorrespond to the contents (data representing information) of theinterrelation request. By this quick and valid connection which providesa kind of basic structure for interrelations, the independentacquisition of interrelations, the so-called “self-learning” of thesolution according to the invention, is accelerated.

With connections of interrelations by semantic comparisons, dynamicinterrelations are advantageously acquired based on, or by means of, thesequence of contents (data representing information) of data inventories(files and/or databases) and/or the sequence of uses of contents (datarepresenting information) of data inventories (files and/or databases).Herein, the solution according to the invention advantageously usesfindings of implicit semantics. The semantics are called implicitbecause in the present case, it is not explicitly modelled by aconceptual network (topic map) or semantic rules of linguistics, butbased on the knowledge that interrelations between contents such asmeanings within a language are not created by definition, but developeddynamically by the use of the same. Meanings of a language are thusdeveloped by the use of the language, and interrelations betweencontents according to the invention by the use of these contents. Tothat extent, semantics cannot be abstracted from language practice or,in the present case, from the contents.

In the technical realisation of connections of interrelations bysemantic comparisons, each dynamic connection is given an intrasystemvalue between 0 and 1, wherein the value 0 shows that there is nointerrelation, and the value 1 shows that there is a directinterrelation, which was created manually or by syntactic comparisons.The solution according to the invention logs all actions of the userwith the data processing system or the sequence of all called or usedcontents, respectively, for instance edited contents. As alreadyexplained, contents are understood to be data representing informationof an arbitrary data inventory, for instance of a file and/or adatabase, which can originate from different data formats and fromdifferent data sources.

If two items of content succeed each other, a latent connection iscreated. If this succession appears repeatedly, the connection isstrengthened. Each connection is advantageously also provided with anexpiry period of a pre-definable time unit, wherein the value of aconnection is attenuated in a time unit and finally tends toward thevalue 0 after several time units.

Beyond the direct succession of two items of content, the solutionaccording to the invention advantageously provides groups of contentcalls which form a pattern. Herein, a pattern means a succession ofcontent calls which recur independent of their order. The patterns canbe of different sizes and comprise different numbers of items of contentper succession and advantageously form a so-called cluster which forms asubject on a semantic meta level beyond the interrelation. Such asubject could in turn be designated as an interrelation request with theaid of a syntactic comparison for acquisition.

Furthermore, the solution according to the invention is able todetermine the relevance of acquired interrelations for the respectiveuser on the basis of the semantic comparison. In this manner, thesolution according to the invention avoids an excessive flood ofinformation and can answer interrelation requests of the user moreprecisely and in a more focussed manner. The relevance can furthermorebe advantageously used by the solution according to the invention for aself-organising maintenance of the data processing system, for instancein order to remove data which are not used, which are old and/orunimportant or have become unimportant which would otherwise burden thedata processing system.

With interrelation connections by semantic comparisons, it is possibleby an appropriate configuration to advantageously analyse contentsand/or uses of contents in accordance with individual interests of auser, in the following referred to as interest or action analysis.

An interest analysis examines which content categories the userpreferably needs in the respective context. In this manner, the solutionaccording to the invention trains the user-specific rules for thesyntactic analysis of contents. If the user for instance needs invoicesand orders when calling a set of addresses, these relations are will beadvantageously displayed by the data processing system according to theinvention. The solution according to the invention understands contentcategories to be contents which are formally similar, for instanceelectronic mail (e-mail), addresses, invoices, orders, projectplannings, appointments, and the like. Just as with semanticcomparisons, the results of the interest analysis are represented by adynamic network the relations of which can be increased or reduced.

Thanks to this interest analysis, it is possible to restrict thecontents, uses of contents and/or aspects of a subject of contents whichare interesting for the user to a narrower focus. A subject in thiscontext is a group of contents which—as explained above—has beenidentified and summarised within the scope of a semantic comparison orwhich results from a queried and acquired interrelation. Theinterrelation request can advantageously be initiated in differentmanners, for instance by dynamically acquired uses of the dataprocessing system by the user or by manual or—if language recognitionand natural language interpretation by means of the data processingsystem according to the invention have been integrated—oralinterrelation requests placed with the data processing system, forinstance in a search field provided for this purpose by a graphic userinterface for controlling the data processing system according to theinvention.

An action analysis examines which uses of contents the user preferablyneeds in the respective context. Therefore, not the contents, but theactions associated with the contents, which are advantageously processedinto options for action in dependence on variables such as content, typeof content or subject by the solution according to the invention, areacquired in a networked manner. For each called content or interrelationrequest, the solution according to the invention is able to dynamicallyoffer options for action which make sense to the user in the respectivecase or which are particularly probable based on his usual actions. Sofor instance, it makes sense that a drawn-up invoice is entered in acorresponding data processing system or a like application, or that areply to an email can be created.

With an advantageous analysis in accordance with patterns in thecontents and/or their uses, a so-called pattern analyser isadvantageously used in the present case, a process which searchesunstructured contents for patterns which it recognises as independentcontent or which it uses for a summary of contents.

The so-called pattern analyser recognises for instance an address or apicture in the text and can use this information in order to make itavailable as independent content. In this manner, Internet pages can beused for an automated address research. The pattern analyser therebyadvantageously takes up the concepts of the described semantic analysisaccording to the invention. Selected contents, for instance emails, areadvantageously automatically evaluated and provided as structuredinformation.

As already explained above, subsequent to the semantic analysis, theanalyser verifies whether there are connections between the links andwhether a meta link can be established.

For the creation of meta contents or identification of subjects,respectively, the semantic analyser verifies at first how many linksthere are to a content. When a critical number has been reached which isdynamically definable, and if there is no meta content yet whichcontains the set of links of the content examined by the analyser as asubset of its links, a new meta content will be created. For thispurpose, the individual items of content are merged and summarised. Thiscan be advantageously done by means of the pattern analyser or otheranalytic procedures or methods.

If a subject exists and the connections fall below the critical number,the meta content will be deleted. Meta contents can advantageously bemanaged via a corresponding plug-in.

Principally the solution according to the invention is able to integrateunlimited data inventories in the form of files and/or databases ofdifferent formats and from different data sources into the dataprocessing system. Herein, the data sources should neither be importednor modified, in order to remain advantageously functional and usablewithin their original system context. This serves the security ofinvestment and furthermore accelerates or supports an implementation ofthe solution according to the invention. For this purpose, the dataprocessing system according to the invention advantageously comprises acentral data management—in the following referred to as“repository”—which contains references to the various data inventoriesand data sources. Herein, not the complete contents are memorized, butonly references to the respective data. In this manner, double datamanagement can be avoided.

As already explained above, the solution according to the invention isable to integrate data representing information as contents fromdifferent data inventories—both databases and files—in different formatsfrom the most different data sources, for instance via the Internet or alocal company network, identify their structures and identify thedetected interrelations between the contents or content components, forinstance the sender of an email. Herein, the individual contentcomponents are advantageously related to corresponding contentcomponents of other contents. By this measure, the solution according tothe invention is accelerated with regard to searching contents of datainventories—in particular also full texts—for words, word componentsand/or character strings.

This process of crawling/searching contents of data inventories forwords, word components and/or character strings—subsequently alsoreferred to as “crawler”—is advantageously executed by a data processingsystem according to the invention in the background of the applicationof the solution according to the invention and periodically searches fornew and modified contents which are preferably temporarily held foranalysis in temporary files. As soon as the analysis is completed, thetemporary files are deleted.

The solution according to the invention can be advantageously used in amanifold manner. First of all, data are organised in a completely newway. This organisation differs from the full text search and directoryhierarchies. The first one leads to a complex quantity of searchresults, the latter one leads to a rigid and unequivocal allocation ofinformation objects. But information objects are often of importance indifferent and changing contexts. The solution according to the inventionpermits a purposeful access to information by selecting a context. Thiscan be any information object, for instance a person, a result, asubject definition or any other information object, such as for examplea process step. These interrelations are dynamic, i.e. they can changewith the time in accordance with the information demand of a group or aperson. For each context the item of information is displayed which isinterrelated with respect to its meaning. Finally, the solutionaccording to the invention is ideal for modelling knowledge by means ofexistent resources from which a set of statements is created which canbe queried in a target-oriented way. Knowledge can already be extractedby a full-automatic analysis of the data without the statements havingto be deposed in RDF or OWL. A combination with concepts which areinterrelated to an ontology can be realised with the solution accordingto the invention without any problems. Thanks to the “reasoning”according to the invention, knowledge in a company or a researchinstitution becomes transparent and concrete answers instead of searchresults become possible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further details, characteristics and advantages of the invention areexplained in the following in more detail based on the description ofthe exemplary embodiments shown in the figures of the drawing. In thesefigures:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the principal components of a dataprocessing system according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a principal exemplary embodiment of a communication betweenselected components of the data processing system according to theinvention according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of another principal exemplary embodimentof a communication between selected components of the data processingsystem according to the invention according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows another principal exemplary embodiment of a communicationbetween selected components of the data processing system according tothe invention according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a principal exemplary embodiment of aprogram implementation of a communication between selected components ofthe data processing system according to the invention according to FIG.1;

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of another principal exemplary embodimentof a program implementation of a communication between selectedcomponents of the data processing system according to the inventionaccording to FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 shows principal details of the communication according to FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of another principal exemplary embodimentof a program implementation of a communication between selectedcomponents of the data processing system according to the inventionaccording to FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of another principal exemplary embodimentof a program implementation of a communication between selectedcomponents of the data processing system according to the inventionaccording to FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of another principal exemplary embodimentof a program implementation of a communication between selectedcomponents of the data processing system according to the inventionaccording to FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 shows a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of aninterrelation acquisition according to the invention;

FIG. 12 shows a flow chart of another exemplary embodiment of aninterrelation acquisition according to the invention;

FIG. 13 shows a flow chart of another exemplary embodiment of aninterrelation acquisition according to the invention;

FIG. 14 shows a flow chart of another exemplary embodiment of aninterrelation acquisition according to the invention;

FIG. 15 shows a flow chart of another exemplary embodiment of aninterrelation acquisition according to the invention;

FIG. 16 shows a flow chart of another exemplary embodiment of aninterrelation acquisition according to the invention;

FIG. 17 shows a schematic diagram of a principal exemplary embodiment ofa graphic user interface according to the invention for the use of adata processing system according to the invention;

FIG. 18 shows a schematic diagram of another principal exemplaryembodiment of a graphic user interface according to the invention forthe use of a data processing system according to the invention;

FIG. 19 shows a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a contextsearch according to the invention within the scope of an acquisition ofinterrelations according to the invention;

FIG. 20 shows a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of an ontologicalacquisition of interrelations according to the invention within thescope of an acquisition of interrelations according to the invention;

FIG. 21 shows a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment on principle ofa processing of a query of statements based upon sets of statements inthe sense of subject-predicate-object relations generated according tothe invention;

FIG. 22 shows a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a queryaccording to the invention according to FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment onprinciple of a graph of a query according to the invention of statementsbased upon sets of statements in the sense of subject-predicate-objectrelations generated according to the invention; wherein the graphrepresents the division of a complex query;

FIG. 24 shows a flow chart of another exemplary embodiment of a query ofstatements based upon sets of statements in the sense ofsubject-predicate-object relations generated according to the inventionand

FIG. 25 shows a flow chart of another exemplary embodiment of a query ofstatements based upon sets of statements in the sense ofsubject-predicate-object relations generated according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The hardware respectively software concept realising an acquisitionaccording to the invention of interrelations between data representinginformation including the user guidance results in particular from thecontext-sensitive management of information according to the inventionand/or actions in such a way that a verifiable interrelation isprovided.

The data processing system consists of several components which in turncontain further sub-components. In the following, the respective maincomponents are described in connection with FIGS. 1 to 13 to provide ageneral overview of the architecture of the data processing system. Thebackground of the architecture presented and described here is that thecomponents do not imperatively have to be executed within oneapplication, but a division into several applications and systems isalso possible. In this manner, both a so-called standalone and aso-called client/server application are supported.

As can be seen from FIG. 1, the data processing system comprises a userinterface, a kernel and a so-called repository.

The user interface (subsequently referred to as GUI) is the interface tothe user. Herein, the user interface (GUI) is realised and designed insuch a way that the ergonomic requirements of the user are completelymet. In the present case, the user interface (GUI) is platform- anddevice-dependent, respectively, and is correspondingly individuallyadjusted to the capabilities of each platform or data processing device.In the present case, for instance implementations of the user interface(GUI) for PCs, PDAs, web or HTML applications, mobile telephone orWML/WAP applications are provided which are preferably realised by meansof, or as, JAVA applications.

The kernel is the central application core of the data processingsystem, in which all components converge and are connected with eachother. The kernel itself is divided into further sub-components,subsequently referred to as IQser, content provider, crawler, logger ortracker (not explicitly shown in FIG. 1), respectively, or analyser.

The kernel provides an interface to the graphic user interface (GUI),and is subsequently referred to as IQser component. Herein, therespective method calls of the user interface (GUI) are forwarded to therespective appropriate components and processed correspondingly beforereturn to the user interface (GUI), if required, as can be seen from theprinciple shown in FIG. 2. The respective requested tasks according toFIG. 2 are executed by the respective components provided for thispurpose. FIG. 3 provides an exemplary overview of the connections amongthe individual components.

Furthermore, the IQser component is the controller unit which controlsthe accesses to the repository or repositories and the crawler andanalyser processes. Furthermore, in the present invention the IQsercomponent realises the object of integrating the respective contentprovider into the system.

The content provider component is an abstract component. In the presentinvention, it is a framework which makes it possible to integrate anydata source into the data processing system. This renders the overallsystem very flexible, and the latter can be integrated into the user'sinfrastructure.

The task of the crawler component is to search for new content objectsor for modifications of existing objects. All modifications orinnovations are synchronised in the repository, so that the repositoryis always up to date. The process realised by the crawler component runsin the background and is started via a freely definable interval.

The task of the logger or tracker component not explicitly shown in FIG.1 is to log any activity of the user with a content (subsequently alsoreferred to as content object). This logging is required in order toacquire certain processing or usage patterns of the user in relation todifferent content objects in the analyser at a later time, and to createor delete less relevant interrelations (so-called “weak links”) betweenobjects, if required.

In the present invention, the analyser component runs as an independentprocess in the background of the data processing system and assumesseveral tasks. For a semantic comparison, the analyser componentsearches activities or utilizations logged by the logger or trackercomponent, respectively, for patterns and creates or deletes the saidinterrelations in the repository. The data processing system can therebydynamically and independently recognise and quasi learn interrelationsbetween contents and their uses. With syntactic comparisons, theanalyser component compares the actual content of a data inventory(content object) with text fragments which point to other datainventories (content objects).

The data processing system refers to external data inventories and usesthe latter for the acquisition of interrelations. These can be entriesin external databases, for instance emails or addresses, but alsodocuments and objects of the data processing system itself. When theuser follows an interrelation reference, the data set or the externaldocument opens in the appropriate application. When the user accesses adata inventory via network connections, the document will open forinstance in an additional browser window after it has been convertedcorrespondingly by the data processing system.

The repository is the interface to data management. This is whereinterrelations and/or references to the data inventories (contentobjects) and their respective connections are managed. In FIG. 1, onlyone repository is shown in an exemplary manner. It is also possible,however, to integrate several repositories into the data processingsystem, so that for instance local, server-based interrelations and datainventories can be integrated into the respective user system.

The data processing system further comprises an interface forintegrating data inventories in order to be able to process everyconceivable type of contents in the form of data representinginformation. Since usually, not all possibilities and types ofintegration of data inventories can be predetermined in advance, thecontent provider component is implemented as a programmable interface inthe present invention. This enables developers to individually programother content providers which can then be used by the data processingsystem. This programming interface is subsequently also referred to asplug-in and is shown in FIG. 4.

The plug-in (FIG. 4) consists of several objects which must beimplemented by the developer:

-   -   ContentProvider: This is the interface to the kernel and        provides the methods required for processing contents.    -   Content: The content object is the actual content. It is used to        exchange contents between the components.    -   ContentView: Interface to the GUI. This is used to implement the        representation and the possible actions and uses of the        contents, respectively.

As can be seen from FIG. 5, plug-ins are managed by two objects, thePluginManager and the plug-in. The PluginManager's task is to search forinstalled plug-ins when the IQser component of the data processingsystem is started, and to load and initialise existing plug-ins. Theplug-in itself in the present invention is used as a data container. Itcontains a unit of the ContentProvider and the configuration of therespective plug-in.

For the development of a new plug-in, the developer must implement theobjects ContentProvider, Content and ContentView. A plug-in isconfigured via a file (presently plugin.xml) which must be present inthe respective plug-in directory. If it is missing, the directory is nottaken over as a plug-in by the component of the data processing systemreferred to as IQser in the present invention.

FIG. 6 in an exemplary manner shows the processes realised by thecrawler component which run in the background of the application of thedata processing system. Herein, the data inventories are searched fornew and modified contents, and these are memorized for analysis forinstance in the form of a table. In the present invention, the processesare carried out with low priority in periodic intervals.

As can be seen on the basis of FIG. 7, the so-called crawler obtains thelist of installed plug-ins from the PluginManager and processes themsuccessively. In doing so, each ContentProvider of a plug-in is queriedfor new or modified content objects. The ContentProvider respectivelyreturns a list with content IDs. These lists are then memorized by thecrawler in a cache table. The table is then in turn processed by theanalysers.

The task of the so-called logger or tracker component shown in anexemplary manner in FIG. 8 is similar to that of the crawler component.The tracker or logger logs the actions of the user to content objects.By this logging operation, patterns in the processing and/or use ofcontents are later acquired by the InterestAnalyser and put to furtheruse. In this manner, interrelations between contents can be createddynamically. These interrelations are weighted low and, as soon as theyhave not been used for a longer, pre-definable period, are quasiforgotten by release. The period over which the tracker or logger is tolog the activities can be configured. The shorter the period, the fasterthe processing. The longer the period, the higher the possibility toacquire processing or usage patterns.

The analyser shown in FIG. 9 is a process which analyses the contents“found” by the crawler in accordance with various criteria in thebackground of the data processing system. The analyser itself in thepresent invention consists of the following sub-components and-processes, respectively:

-   -   IndexAnalyser: Analyses the contents for keywords required for        interrelation acquisition.    -   SemanticAnalyser: Analyses the contents according to semantic        criteria in order to acquire interrelations between contents.    -   SyntaxAnalyser: Analyses the contents for syntactic        interrelations with other contents.    -   InterestAnalyser: Analyses contents for patterns in processing        or use by the user.

If at least two events have been entered in the log (tracker), ananalysis can be started by calling the analytical process. For thispurpose, the analyser views the first two entries of the log. If thesecond entry is not an event which was triggered by the selection (e. g.“for display”) of an item of content, the syntax analysis will bestarted (cf. FIG. 11). If it was an interrelation (subsequently alsoreferred to as selection), syntax analysis will be skipped. If bothentries are events which were triggered by the user, each of thecontents is examined both in the semantic and in the interest analyserin the present case. Subsequently, other analytical steps may follow.When all analytical steps have been carried out, the first entry isdeleted. Now the entire process is repeated until only one entry is leftin the log.

FIG. 14 for instance shows the process of a so-called meta analyser. Themeta analyser verifies whether the number of connections to an examinedcontent exceeds a limiting value n. If not, it is verified whether thereis a meta content which—if it exists—must be deleted. If the limitingvalue is reached, it is also verified at first whether there is a metacontent. In both cases, all linked contents are merged and summarised.If there has already been a meta content, the latter is updated by thesummary. If there has been no meta content, yet, it is created anddeposited in a database.

The repository shown in detail in an exemplary manner in FIG. 10 is theinterface to the data inventories. It assumes the memorization of alldata relevant for the kernel; in the present invention, these are inparticular:

-   -   An index to all contents.    -   Interrelations or connections of contents to other contents.    -   Temporary information regarding the order of processing of        contents by the user (tracker).    -   Temporary information on new and modified contents (crawler).    -   An index of all key values of the contents (weighting).

When the semantic analysis is started, it is verified whether aconnection between the two contents already exists. If there is none, aconnection with a low value larger than 0 is created for weighting. If aconnection exists already, the SemanticAnalyser will query whether theweighting is smaller than 1. If this value is 1, the analysis isaborted, if it is smaller than 1, it is continued. Now the weighting ofthe connection is increased by a smallest value larger than 0.Subsequently, it is verified whether the resulting weighting is largeror equal to 1. If the value is smaller than 1, the semantic analysis isterminated. If the value is larger or equal to 1, the weighting isreduced to a largest value smaller than 1. Subsequently, all otherexisting connections are called, and their weighting is reduced by afactor corresponding to the reduction of the currently examinedconnection. After that, the SemanticAnalyser is terminated.

FIG. 11 shows the iterative analytical process of interrelationacquisition. In the present invention, as already explained, variousanalytical processes are used in combination. Within the scope ofinterrelation acquisition, the analytical process is started by an entryin the tracker (event log), and is finished when only one entry remainsin the tracker. As already explained above, it is the task of theanalyser component to independently recognise the interrelations betweenthe contents. For this purpose, the data processing system uses inparticular a syntactical and a semantic analysis in combination. FIG. 12shows the sequence of the processes explained above within the scope ofa semantic analysis. FIG. 13 shows the principal structure of theprocesses within the scope of a syntactic analysis.

FIG. 11 shows the principal steps of the procedure realised by theanalyser component. Within the scope of calling the analyser component,log files or the database entries (logs) are processed in thechronological order in which the individual items were written. If anyentries have been processed in this manner, they are deleted from thelist, while at least the last action is saved, however. The length ofthe list of actions in the log file or the database table also dependson how fast the analyser works, or how much computational throughput isassigned to the secondary thread. The thread of the IQser component orthe actions carried out by the user of the data processing system,respectively, always have priority. As soon as a new action is writtento the log file and the analyser has not been active yet, the analysisfor interrelation acquisition is started. The following situations canlead to a call of the analyser:

-   -   At the start of the data processing system, at least two entries        from the last session are already in the log.    -   The crawler has identified new contents, for instance by a new        plug-in.    -   The user creates a new content.    -   The user selects an item of content from a called list.

The SyntaxAnalyser determines the rules for syntax analysis by callingthe “keys” for the specific content to be searched. These “keys” areattributes describing which information modules (data fields) and datatypes are to be used for determining contexts. From the keys, theanalyser compiles a filter which triggers a search through the entireacquired data inventory. Finally a connection is created to the contentsfound which, depending on the implementation and the requirements of theuser, is weighted with 1 or a largest value smaller than 1, or the hitaccuracy.

As explained above, all contents can be linked in interrelations withany type and any number of other contents. Interrelations are possibleboth in a cross-category manner and within one category. For instance,addresses can be linked with addresses, but addresses can also be linkedwith projects. There is no hierarchical order. The data processingsystem differentiates static and dynamic connections for interrelationsor their acquisition, respectively. Static connections are alwaysdisplayed and can be produced and edited by the user. Dynamicconnections are automatically created by the system with a weighting.The following are the criteria for weighting:

-   -   The frequency of calling a content.    -   The frequency of calling of contents in the context created by        the interrelation.    -   The age of the last call of the interrelation or of the linked        contents.

Search results of an interrelation request are furthermore weightedaccording to the frequency of the searched content in the respectiveinterrelation.

As already explained, there is an internal threshold value beyond whicha dynamic connection is displayed or not. The value (weighting) changesin dependence on the user behaviour or the evaluation of the log of allactions carried out by the user with the data processing system,respectively.

The interrelations are represented as dynamically linked objects in thedata processing system.

FIG. 15 shows and describes in an exemplary manner how the correspondingplug-in is queried for a crawler task for identification of newcontents. From a technical point of view, this subsystem realisingsynchronisation processes is a so-called class which queries therespective data sources of the plug-in for new, deleted or generatedinterrelations.

FIG. 16 shows and describes in an exemplary manner how an analysis offull texts according to the invention within the scope of an acquisitionof interrelation according to the invention takes place, wherein atleast one word from a list (list of words) of words contained in thefull text that has been made from a full text is used as the at leastone item of data representing at least one item of information of therequest for an interrelation (interrelation request). The list of wordsmade from a full text in the pattern analysis will be arranged in anascending manner in accordance with the frequency of the words. Thefirst 32 words of the list resulting from this will be sent as searchquery—i.e. a request for an interrelation (interrelation request)—to afull text of a search engine. As a result a list of the similardocuments with a weighting determined by the search engine will bedelivered. Subsequently, it will be respectively verified in the furtheranalysis whether there is already a connection of the full text with thesearch hit. If this is the case, the higher weighting will be takenover. If this is not the case, a connection will be established and theweighting of the search result will be taken over.

The data processing system according to the invention further provides across-device man-machine interface for display, editing and control ofcomplex contents or data inventories and their interrelations, inparticular in order to satisfy the requirements with regard to atransparent control for modification of large data inventories and theirinterrelations and to make such a control comprehensible in particularfor the untrained user and to facilitate it in comparison to othersystems. The logic and ergonomics used by the man-machine interface areadvantageously independent of the data processing devices or terminalsused for or together with the data processing system according to theinvention, for instance their output units such as monitors or displays.

The man-machine interface of the data processing system according to theinvention advantageously enables an action-oriented control of the dataprocessing system. The action-oriented control of the data processingsystem according to the invention replaces the functional menu controlof computer-based programs usually used today. A functional menu controloffers a selection of functions which are grouped in accordance withabstract criteria and are accessible in menu trees. Such abstractcriteria are for instance “File” and “Edit” for the Windows operatingsystems of the company Microsoft. In comparison, the action-orientedcontrol according to the invention—also referred to as action-orientednavigation—operates with context-sensitive options for action which havea binary structure in any application situation of the system. Thebinary structure relates to an input on the one side and an output ofcontents on the other side, or to authoring or modifying and displayingdata inventories. The binary options for action are advantageouslyadjusted dependent on the respective action context, i. e. new optionsfor action can be added in dependence on the respective action context,and/or other options for action can be omitted. The binaryaction-oriented control can advantageously be applied simultaneously toall output media, for instance with small displays of mobile terminalsor with voice input and/or output, for which purpose the data processingdevice advantageously comprises a microphone and a speaker as input andoutput units.

The control or navigation through complex data inventories and theirinterrelations is advantageously realised by the man-machine interfaceof the data processing system according to the invention by a graphicuser interface which serves to enter and/or reproduce interrelationrequests, connections, interrelations, and/or interrelation weightings.Herein, the graphic user interface is configured for entering, modifyingand/or reproducing data representing information in at least one datainventory.

The graphic user interface partitions the display area provided forreproduction by a display device into three areas, wherein in a firstarea, data representing information in at least one data inventoryaccessible via at least one data source, in a second area, at least oneitem of data representing at least one item of information of aninterrelation request, and in a third area, at least one acquiredinterrelation between the item of data representing at least one item ofinformation of the interrelation request and the item of datarepresenting at least one item of information of the data inventory isreproduced.

The partitioning according to the invention of the display area intothree sub-areas is subsequently referred to as triadic window technique.While the window techniques known from the graphic interfaces of modernoperating systems either operate with list, icon, or tree diagrams forrepresenting the hierarchical structure of data and files of a computersystem, the triadic window technique according to the invention operateswith a horizontal or vertical tripartition of the available display area(window).

A corresponding graphic user interface is shown in FIG. 17 and FIG. 18,in the present invention in the form of a principal example of aso-called Internet front-end, with a vertical partition of the displayarea. Herein, the data processing system according to the invention canbe used in the form of a so-called web browser (FIG. 17) or a so-calledJAVA client (FIG. 18).

With the vertical partition of the display area represented in FIG. 17and FIG. 18, a selection of contents is shown as a list in tabular formfor instance in the upper third of the display area (window), in thesecond third of the display area (window), there is a detailed view ofan item of content selected from the first list, and in the last thirdof the display area (window), all contents linked with the selection areshown, which appear or are reproduced for instance also in a list. Inthis manner, the user can see at a glance which contents belong togetherand can continue navigation directly from there in order to search forcontents or to derive knowledge from the interrelations. Epistemologyshows that knowledge is generated by linking information. Thus, the dataprocessing system according to the invention not only makes informationtransparent, but also knowledge. If the user selects an item of contentfrom the list in the last third of the window, an animation will beadvantageously started which shifts the last animation upwards, whereinthe subsequently shown “triadic window” has the same structure andlogic. Furthermore, the user can also navigate back, so that theanimation is correspondingly reversed.

In another vertical partition of the display area not shown in thefigures, for instance the result of a (selection) in the form of a listof contents can be seen in the upper third of the display area (window),the connections or interrelations to a selected content from the list ofthe first area are shown in the second third of the display area(window), and the last third of the display area (window) shows apreview of the selected content (item of data representing information).The preview reproduced in the third area of the display area may bebetter legible or visible if the proportion in size between the firsttwo areas and the third area is variably adjustable, so-called “splitplane”. Control and navigation in this case are advantageouslyrestricted to the first two areas of the display area, while the previewin the third area simply changes in the same place. The sequence of thewindow areas can vary depending on the implementation.

The advantage of the graphic user interface of the data processingsystem according to the invention is that the user can see at a glancewhich contents belong together and can directly continue controlling ornavigating in order to search for contents or to directly deriveknowledge from acquired interrelations. Herein, an endless control ornavigation, respectively, is provided in accordance with the invention.

The fields marked with the reference numerals 1 to 7 in FIG. 18 have thefollowing functionalities:

-   -   1: List entries can be dragged to the list of references by drag        and drop in order to create a connection. A double-click will        open the detailed view in a new window;    -   2: Column headers: A sorting criterion can be selected by mouse        click;    -   3: Scroll bar in order to be able to completely view lists and        detailed lists which cannot be displayed completely in the        window area;    -   4: The area for the list can be moved, and even completely        “folded up” with pressed mouse button;    -   5: The detailed list entry comprises scroll bars in order to be        able to completely view lists and detailed lists which cannot be        displayed completely in the window area;    -   6: Column positions provided with background functions, for        instance an email address leads to a mask for writing an email        and    -   7: References can easily be deleted by dragging them out of the        window area by the mouse.

In the following, processes occurring within the scope of use of thedata processing system and their realisation on the part of therespective user interface are described by way of example.

“Display a List”

In the application of the user interface (GUI), the user selects a menuitem from the menu or navigation for displaying contents, for instancein order to view all of the latest projects. The list of menu items tobe selected is similar to a bookmark list of a browser. In the dataprocessing system according to the invention, however, the bookmarks donot refer to static pages or lists, but to dynamic interrelations.Correspondingly, this part of navigation will look different from userto user. In the present invention, the data processing system isrealised as a JAVA client.

“Add Attributes”

In order to add a new attribute to a content object, the user calls upthe edit mode of a content object. In addition to the existingattributes, the user will find an empty field where he can enter a newattribute or select from an accompanying list. An address is an objectfor which the IQser suggests attributes:

Since in the Java client, edit and view mode are not differentiated, itis advantageously proposed for this variant to supplement the navigation“new” with the option “Add attribute”. If external data sources areused, the additional attributes will be memorized in the IQser.

If the user selects the option “module” (or a different designation) inthe menu, a new empty module is shown in the detailed view. Thedesignation is also empty. Advantageously, an additional selection boxwith the previously defined modules is provided. Subsequently, the dataprocessing system advantageously verifies whether this designationalready exists for a module, and corrects any typos or redundancies, ifrequired.

FIG. 19 shows and exemplarily describes the development of a contextsearch according to the invention within the scope of an acquisition ofinterrelations according to the invention. In the present case, in acontext search according to the invention, only such items of contentare searched in a semantic network, which are placed in the context of acertain content. In this manner, the search can be substantially refinedin dependence on the context. The context search is handed over to thedata processing device, preferably a server, together with a searchstring as well as a content ID. As the flow chart according to FIG. 19shows, at first a search request is realised on the base of the searchstring. Then, such links to the content object are called, in thecontext of which the search result shall be placed. Then, this list willbe iterated and it is checked whether a list entry is present in thesearch result. If this is the case, this list entry will be received inthe list of results. Herein, according to the invention, theinterrelation request is advantageously realised as a request addressedto a search engine. Thus, within the scope of an interrelation request,at first an interrelation request to the at least one pre-definable itemof information (search string) as the at least one item of datarepresenting the at least one item of information of an interrelationrequest is realised, then an interrelation request to the at least oneresult of the interrelation request to the search string as the at leastone item of data representing at least one item of information of aninterrelation request to the content ID is realised. Finally, the resultof the interrelation request to the result of the interrelation requestto the search string will be acquired and reproduced.

FIG. 20 shows an exemplary embodiment of an ontological acquisition ofinterrelations according to the invention within the scope of anacquisition of interrelations according to the invention. Herein,implicit ontology means that automatically a set of statements in thesense of a subject-predicate-object-relation (SPO relation) is generatedwhich also plays a role in the semantic web, in particular OWL and RDF.Thereby, queries in natural language are enabled which can be solved bymeans of AIML.

Already during the analysis process according to the invention, the SPOrelation is determined and memorized. Always when a link is created, themethod

-   createLink(c1, c2, p, w)    is called, wherein p represents the predicate which connects the    subject c1 to the object c2. W represents the weighting of the link.    In the pattern analysis, p is designated as “alike” (similar). In    the syntax analysis p gets the designation of the key attribute that    has created the link. In manual links, p can be determined freely.

For the management of the statements (SPO relations) two advantageouspossibilities exist:

-   -   There are several predicates (so to speak tags) for each        relation. Herein, it is checked for a link that is already        existent, whether the predicate is already present. If this is        not the case, it will be added to the existing tags.    -   There are several relations of the same pair c1 and c2 with        respectively one predicate. Herein, it is respectively checked,        whether a relation with the new tag is already existent. If this        is not the case, a new relation will be created which is written        with the current tag.

The first variant advantageously provides for more clarity in thedisplay of the links.

Thus the following queries are for instance possible according to theinvention:

-   -   Who is the author of a document which treats the subject        “environmental protection”?    -   Who is the friend of Max Mustermann (if this tag has been set).    -   Who is the project leader of a project concerning solar cells?    -   Which accessories are available for the apparatus XY?

For carrying out these queries, advantageously combinations of filter-and/or link queries are used.

It is especially advantageous that according to the invention thepossibility has been provided and created to be able to see for eachlink how this link has been established. This is for instance shown by acolumn in a table of results.

The flow chart in FIG. 20 shows how the interrelation request “Who isthe author of documents which deal with environmental protection?” isontologically carried out according to the invention.

A similar interrelation request could be: “Who was or is collaborator ina project concerning solar cells?” The question can be reduced to twovariables:

-   -   tag for the interrelation    -   filter for the search request.

In this manner, a new method has been provided which enables complexrequests.

Another advantageous use of an ontological interrelation request isprovided by a method according to the invention for an automaticthematic allocation of texts.

Companies often dispose of a plurality of texts. For the access to andthe processing of information it is helpful if texts are automaticallyallocated to a domain or the corresponding sources are allocated to adomain. For interrelation requests according to the present inventionthe following possibilities exist:

-   -   1. A database comprising domains is connected via a plug-in. For        each domain an expert can collect the morphemes and words that        are characteristic for the domain. Within the scope of        interrelation requests the automatic analyses of the solution        according to the invention assumes the function of allocating        texts and relating domains which complement or include each        other. As a result, the user can navigate over domains and find        corresponding sources.    -   2. The company makes a collection of texts available which will        be examined with respect to characteristic words and morphemes        by means of a special tool. For this, a list of words is        generated on the base of the texts, wherein the statistic        frequency is allocated to each word. This list of words will        then be filtered through a list of articles and basic verbs        (stop words) and arranged in a descending order according to        word frequency. The 32 most frequent words will be used for the        description of the domain.    -   3. In accordance with the pattern analysis of full texts, the        list of words described under item 2 can collect the 32 less        frequent words. Thereby a poorly defined delimitation of stop        words can be avoided or saved.    -   4. In an analysis process a text is converted into a list of        words. Afterwards, each word will be looked up in the database        of the project German Vocabulary (Deutscher Wortschatz)        (http://www.wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de) from which the domain        will be retrieved. Thus, a list of domains is created on the        base of the list of words according to the invention. This list        will be in turn condensed, in that each domain only appears once        with the allocated frequency. Then, the list will be arranged in        a descending manner. The three most frequent domains are        allocated as tag to the content (content object).    -   5. An especially preferred and precise method of the invention        is the difference analysis. Herein, advantageously two text        collections are compared with each other. Preferably a text        collection comprising general subjects, for instance the base of        the project German Vocabulary, and a text collection comprising        text of a certain domain will be compared. A list of words,        preferably without doublets, will be generated from both text        collections. Herein, the words will be arranged in a descending        order with respect to their frequency together with this value.        In the second step, the relative frequency is calculated for        each word of the two lists of words on the base of the quotient        of the absolute frequency and the total number of the word forms        of the respective list. In the third step, the two lists of        words are compared. For the list of words from the text body of        the professional texts a quotient is formed for each word on the        base of the relative frequency of the same list with the        relative frequency of the other list. Afterwards, the thus        complemented list of words will be arranged according to this        value. In the present invention, the 32 most frequent words are        selected as describing for a special domain. These 32 words can        be used for the description of a domain within the scope of a        solution according to the invention (IQser), in order to        automatically allocate texts by means of the pattern analysis.

The solution according to the invention advantageously enables to answerconcrete questions, the answers of which are based upon a set ofstatements. A simple question or request is for example: “Who is theauthor of a document which deals with the subject environmentalprotection?”. A precondition is that the queried system (data processingsystem) contains statements of such kind that for example the person xhas composed the document y and that the document y deals with thesubject environmental protection. More complex requests consist ofquestions comprising relative clauses which additionally delimit orenhance a subject or an object. More complex questions are for instance:“Which person is the author of a document which deals with the subjectenvironmental protection and is at the same time collaborator of aresearch institute?” or “Which documents dealing with the subjectenvironmental protection have been written by persons who arecollaborators of a research institute?”.

The statements which the system accesses for answering the questions areadvantageously created by the implicit ontology realised according tothe invention. Herein, the implicit ontology is based upon the semanticnetwork which has been created on the base of different analyzingmethods. Herein, data representing information of the available datainventories—in the following also referred to as information objects orconcepts—are linked to each other according to the invention. In asyntactic link according to the invention enabling a syntactic analysis,the link will be advantageously described as edge of a graph by thedesignation of a key attribute or another reason of the link. Herein,statements in the form of subject-predicate-object are advantageouslycreated, wherein subject and object are information objects from thedata inventory and the predicate is the above mentioned reason of alink.

Furthermore, statements which the system accesses for answering thequestions can also be formulated explicitly, preferably in the semanticlanguages RDF and/or OWL.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, all data representinginformation of the available data inventories (information objects orconcepts), preferably any structured and/or non structured data of datainventories that are accessible via data sources, are indexed and theindices of the data representing information are memorized as referencein a database. In another advantageous embodiment of the invention themulti-relational links of the semantic network are also memorized in adatabase.

Simple queries such as for instance “Who is the author of a documentwhich deals with the subject environmental protection?” fetch statementsin the form of subject-predicate-object according to the invention.Thus, the corresponding request or search object consists of the threementioned parts subject, predicate and object. According to theinvention, subject and object are described or selected with aninterrelation request (search request). This can be mentioning theobject type (for example person), a special attribute (for examplesurname) or a search term (for example chemist). According to theinvention, the predicate will be described or selected with a keyattribute (for example author) or a reason for the link (for exampletext similarity). This request or search object advantageously leads totwo queries (search requests) for the subject and the object. Theresults of the queries are advantageously used for compiling a SQL querywhich queries the relations. It is advantageously possible that one ormore parts of the request object are not defined such that for instancethe predicate, the subject or the object can be arbitrary. According tothe invention, the following questions can be answered in this manner:“Which documents dealing with the subject environmental protection havebeen written by the author x?”, “How are person x and person y relatedto each other?”, “Perhaps by friendship or by a common acquaintance.”,“Which scientific disciplines exist in the field of philosophy?”, “Whichsolution exists for a problem with the DVD player of the laptop XYZ?”.Each of these requests can be reduced to the following structure: S( . .. ) P( . . . ) O( . . . ) with S=search request for the subject,P=description of the predicate and O=search request for the object. FIG.21 shows the processing of a corresponding request, FIG. 22 shows thecorresponding flow chart. The SQL statement “SELECT (o1, p, o2) FROMrelations WHERE (o1=x OR . . . ) AND (p=y) AND (o2=z OR . . . )” is onlyan exemplary embodiment on principle of a SQL statement. SQL statementsthat are used can also differ from this.

As already explained, complex requests consist of questions withrelative clauses which additionally delimit or enhance a subject or anobject, such as for instance:

-   -   1. “Which person is the author of documents dealing with the        subject of environmental protection and is at the same time        employee of the company x?”;    -   2. “Which documents with respect to the subject environmental        protection have been written by persons who are employees of the        company x?”

The questions can be advantageously brought into the following, whereinrespectively the first subject is the wanted set of objects:

-   -   1. S( . . . ) [P( . . . ) O( . . . ) and P( . . . ) O( . . . )]    -   2. S( . . . ) P( . . . ) [S( . . . ) P( . . . ) O( . . . )]

According to the invention, each request can thus be represented bymeans of a graph in which the subject is connected to several predicatesand the predicate is only connected to one object, wherein the objectcan again become the subject of a partial question. The edges of thegraph between subject and predicate can be advantageously an ANDfunction or a logic addition. FIG. 23 shows an exemplary embodiment of agraph for such a complex request.

According to an advantageous proposal of the invention, the solution foranswering the complex requests is realised by dividing the request intopartial requests. Herein, the questions are advantageously worked onstarting from the most inner parenthesis towards the most outerstatement. For the question in the form S( . . . ) P( . . . ) [S( . . .) P( . . . ) O( . . . )] for instance, at first the statement in thebracket would be answered and a result for the subject delivered. Then,the outer statement can be queried. Herein, according to the invention,the statements are advantageously divided at first, then the individualor partial statements are selected and afterwards the results arelinked, as represented by the flow chart in FIG. 24. Herein, the linkingof the individual or partial statements is advantageously realised by adifferentiation between an AND function or logic addition. In the firstcase (AND function), a cut-set of the results is formed, in the secondcase (logic addition) a join of sets. FIG. 25 shows the associated flowchart.

An especially advantageous embodiment of the invention enables requestswhich include conclusions, for instance:

-   -   1. “Which person is professionally qualified in the field of        ethics?”;    -   2. “Which hotel room in the city x has an internet connection?”

If, for instance, a qualification “ethics” is not directly allocated toa person, the solution according to the invention enables to formulate aquestion which will however deliver a result via several links. Theperson may, for instance, be linked to a description of thequalifications, for example contained in a curriculum vitae or a likedocument. The document curriculum vitae may, for instance, be linked toa description of the studies which were mentioned in the curriculumvitae, wherein the description contains a hint to ethics. The hint toethics can also be in turn hidden in a link. A corresponding request hadto be created as follows: “Which person has a curriculum vitae whichrefers to studies dealing with ethics?”

Also the second example of the hotel room can select a hotel room evenif the description of a hotel room does not contain the quality “has aninternet connection”, but is only allocated to a category which in turnrefers to the feature that the hotel room has got an internetconnection.

The exemplary embodiments of the invention shown in the figures of thedrawing and explained in connection with the description merely serve toexplain the invention and are in no way restrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for querying interrelations of dataobjects, wherein the query contains parameter for the interrelations ofdata objects, comprising: a data source; a data inventory incommunication with the data source, wherein the data inventory comprisesa plurality of objects, said plurality of objects including at least onedata object, and at least one interrelation object including linkstatements that provide a link between interrelated data objects,wherein each link statement includes a reference to: first and seconddata objects of the data inventory; a weight value; and one or morereasons for said link, each reason defining a predicated relationshipbetween the first and second data objects; a processor in communicationwith said data source and said data inventory; software executing onsaid processor for establishing interrelation objects in said datainventory, said software utilizing interrelation requests, wherein eachinterrelation object is established based on at least one of syntacticcomparison, semantic comparison, and pattern analysis to generate linkstatements representing interrelations between data objects of the datainventory, wherein said syntactic comparison includes: executing asearch query with keys associated with a given data object, compiling atleast one interrelation object that includes one or more link statementsrepresenting weighted and predicated interrelations for each searchresult of the search query, and storing the at least one compiledinterrelation object in said data inventory; wherein said semanticcomparison includes: retrieving a previously user selected object insaid data inventory represented by a data object from a tracker of useractions, compiling or modifying at least one interrelation object thatincludes one or more link statements representing a weighted andpredicated interrelation between the previously user selected object anda given data object, and storing the at least one compiled or modifiedinterrelation object in said data inventory; wherein said patternanalysis includes: extracting a list of words associated with a givendata object, sorting the list of words in ascending order according totheir frequency, executing a search query with a defined number of topwords, compiling at least one interrelation object that includes one ormore link statements representing weighted and predicated interrelationsfor each search result of the search query, and storing the at least onecompiled interrelation object in said data inventory; a threefold queryfor data objects in the data inventory, wherein the threefold querycomprises: a first query parameter that contains constraints for objectsin the data inventory representing a data object, a second queryparameter that contains constraints for objects in the data inventoryrepresenting interrelation objects based on one or more link statementsdefined therein, and a third query parameter that contains constraintsfor objects in the data inventory representing a data object; softwareexecuting on said processor for querying interrelations of data objectsusing said threefold query for objects in the data inventory by:retrieving a first set of data objects for the first query parameter,retrieving a second set of data objects for the third query parameter,and comparing each data object of the first set of data objects, eachdata object of the second set of data objects and the constraints of thesecond query parameter with at least one interrelation object in thedata inventory to form a result list of interrelated objects in the datainventory; and a user interface connected to said processor forpresenting the result list of interrelated objects to a user.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein said first query parameter and said thirdquery parameter are only compared with objects of said data inventorythat are interrelated according to the second query parameter of saidthreefold query for compiling the result list of interrelated dataobjects.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the threefold query comprisesthree search strings.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the threefoldquery comprises a tree of threefold query statements each including asubject query, a predicate query and an object query, and in which eachleaf of said tree specifies either a queried object of a superior querystatement or a queried subject of queried superior query statements. 5.The system of claim 4, wherein the tree of threefold query statement iscompiled by decomposing said tree into segments of threefold querystatements as terms of a nested boolean operation, retrieving predicatedinterrelations for each term based on interrelation objects of said datastore and filtering the results in case of boolean AND or expanding theresult in case of a boolean OR.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein theuser interface is a graphical user interface.